No more
I don't get it.
I just can't watch anymore.
"It's not even a vulture, it's a turkey buzzard!" - Mike Dirnt, Making of BOBD Video
Wow...that was deep.
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MovieChat Forums > The Seventh Victim (1943) Discussion > No more
Sometimes you have to finish movies in order to understand them.
shareare you sure you watched the same movie? i mean it wasn't exactly 71 minutes of complexity
shareI feel the same the first 45 minutes, but at the end everything makes sense. Try again!
shareThe film works on several levels, one of them being what happens when a person joins a manipulative cult and then tries to leave it. The Palladists may operate more like a lodge than a coven, but they're dangerous nonetheless, even if they are not necessarily part of what has come to be known as a suicide cult. The shower scene between Mrs. Redi and Mary proves that. It's not the only cinematic trope that found its way into Hitchcock's Psycho. In both films one sister follows another into an underworld of madness, and in both a detective is stabbed while disturbing the hiding place of a tormented soul. Jacqueline's sacrifice nevertheless ultimately brings out the best in those who love her, countering the apathy that led Jacqueline to the Palladists in the first place. It is conceivable that they targeted her because she was a successful businesswoman. Even if Gregory must become more of a father figure to Mary than he had perhaps hoped, he is fulfilled by having a family he never took the time to get to know previously. The film's message is that there is hope even in the face of certain death, as the doomed Mimi learns when she takes one last stab at living.
shareGood post latnok. Thanks.
shareForget it. I couldn't make the first half hour. More plot holes than an Ed Wood flick. Idiotic. Are the characters ALL brain dead? Yowch, what an awful movie.
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tzarenvy wrote, "my favourite bit: they used the symbol of their secret devil worshipping society as a brand image for a range of shampoos, and then looked all perplexed when someone asked about it"
One wonders whether the urban legend that haunted Proctor and Gamble got its start the same way. The logos are nothing alike, but still...
It's unmistakably a B-movie, but it quickly improves in atmosphere. The dialogue and performances are deceptively bad in the beginning... and the less we see and hear of Mary Gibson the better... I was surprised that was Kim Hunter (from Planet of the Apes!) Didn't recognize her without the monkey suit.
The most memorable performance comes from Jean Brooks, later rejected by RKO which led to her sad end...
I don't get it either. Or rather, I get the plot/story, but I don't get what all the fuss is about. I will grant - some of the camerawork was excellent, and the surprise ending of a suicide was certainly not what I expected for 1943, but there are also some serious problems with this film as well, making it damaged goods and certainly not a classic. I can't agree that one should look past all the flaws of a film, if the film also happened to have a unique element like a 'suicide solution.' There has to be some accountability.
To have to accept this sudden love between Mary and Gregory is nonsense. The viewer saw nothing of this, yet everyone in the movie somehow is able to see it. Umm sure. Not to mention Mary must be a juvenile if she is in a boarding school, but Gregory's pedophilia apparently is not a problem here. (Ok I did mention it.)
Jacqueline wanting to die, but not die at someone else's hand, seems silly. She refuses to drink poison, and avoids the assassin on the street, then goes home and kills herself 'on her terms'....um...what? That seems inauthentic and contrived, not brilliant film-making.
I've noticed people have commented that the suicide ending goes against the 'all's well that ends well' typical ending of early films. But actually, it seems that if Jacqueline wanted to die, well, she died in the end, didn't she? And if Mary and Gregory really do love each other (why I have no idea, but anyway...), well, Jacqueline is dead, so now they can be together. So in a way, the film does have the same 'happy ending' that you might expect. And if Jacqueline actually did kill the private detective, then her death at the end would be viewed as 'justice being served,' which is certainly a staple for films from this era. Nothing ground-breaking from that perspective.
The devil worshippers....I will agree that was a unique plot twist, how often did you see something like that in 1943...yes....but the truly un-scary, non-threatening and borderline boring Satanists cannot be excused. Heck they observe nonviolence and appear to be a threat only to their own. If you are not in their group you have nothing to fear. And they are shamed by hearing the Lord's Prayer? Wow that is just weak. Satanist wannabees, maybe, but not real Satanists. Again I give some credit for even including this story element, but the execution is far from laudable.
This falls somewhere between a 5 and a 6. I suppose 6/10 for originality but I am hard-pressed to go beyond.